Apothecaries and Terminators vs Alaitoc Eldar

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**codepoet**

I tried out an Apothecary and Terminator combo in a 1750 pt game vs Alaitoc Eldar last weekend. The idea was that the Apothecaries could provide a shield for the Terminators, increasing their effectiveness.

The mission was secure and control Gamma, with 4 objective counters.

My Marine List:

Traits: Purity above all (Apothecaries), See but don't be seen (Infiltrate), Eye to Eye (less vehicles), Die standing (no drop-pods)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 80 Pts
Heavy Bolter (x1); Assault Cannon (x1)

7 Veteran Squad @ 231 Pts
   Bolter (x2); Bolt Pistol & CCW (x3); Lascannon (x1); Plasmagun (x1); Infiltrate
   1 Apothecary
      Upgrade to Apothecary; Terminator Honors; Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1); Infiltrate
      1 Auspex
      1 Teleport Homer

5 Tactical Squad @ 173 Pts
   Bolter (x3); Lascannon (x1); Plasmagun (x1); Infiltrate
   1 Apothecary
      Upgrade to Apothecary; Terminator Honors; Bolt Pistol (x1); Close Combat Weapon (x1); Infiltrate

4 Tactical Squad @ 155 Pts
   Bolter (x2); Lascannon (x1); Plasmagun (x1); Infiltrate
   1 Apothecary
      Upgrade to Apothecary; Terminator Honors; Bolt Pistol (x1); Close Combat Weapon (x1); Infiltrate

4 Terminator Squad @ 255 Pts
   Storm Bolter (x2); Power Fist (x4); Assault Cannon (x2); Tank Hunters
   1 Sergeant
      Tank Hunters

1 Epistolary @ 411 Pts
   Psychic Hood; Terminator Command Squad; Force Weapon; Storm Bolter; Fear of the Darkness; Fury of the Ancients; Tank Hunters
   Adamantine Mantle, Auspex, Terminator Armor
   3 Terminator Command Squad
      Storm Bolter (x1); Power Fist (x3); Assault Cannon (x2); Tank Hunters
      1 Sergeant

1 Predator Annihilator @ 135 Pts
   Twin-Linked Lascannon; Heavy Bolter (x2)
   1 Extra Armor

Alaitoc List:

1 Farseer @ 119 Pts
Shuriken Pistol; Singing Spear; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Guide

1 Baharroth @ 160 Pts
Hawk's Talon; Power Weapon; Plasma Grenades; SH Grenade Pack; Bounding Leap; Sustained Assualt; Withdraw

5 Swooping Hawks @ 148 Pts
   LasBlaster; Plasma Grenades; SH Grenade Pack; Swooping Hawk Wings; Swooping Hawk Exarch
   1 Swooping Hawk Exarch
      LasBlaster; Power Weapon; Plasma Grenades; SH Grenade Pack; Swooping Hawk Wings

3 Rangers @ 57 Pts
Shuriken Pistol (x3); Ranger Long Rifle (x3)

3 War Walker @ 300 Pts
Starcannon; Starcannon; Energy Field; War Walker; War Walker

1 Falcon @ 240 Pts
Shuriken Cannon; Starcannon; Pulse Laser; Crystal Targetting Matrix; Holo-Field; Spirit Stone

8 Defender Guardians @ 98 Pts
Shuriken Catapult (x8); Weapon Platform - Starcannon

Deployment

Infiltrate was fantastic for setup, as I could deploy right on the objectives. I split my force in two, and deployed on two of the objectives, in 4+ cover. 2 tac squads, the veterans and the terminator squad on my left, and 2 tac squads, and the librarian on my right. I set up the marine squads in lines, so that the apothecaries could reach any squad. I deployed my two vehicles out of sight behind a building on the left.

My opponent deployed his falcons behind level 3 area terrain on my right, his War walkers in some ruins on my left, and one unit of swooping hawks on each side of the table. Baharroth went with the unit on the right, and the farseer with the hawks on the left. The guardians deployed in light cover on the middle. His rangers infiltrated onto the objectives, one in the centre and one with the war walkers on the left.

The ranger disruption rolls were very effective, killing two Terminators from the librarian's command squad, pinning the Terminator unit. He also set the two tac squads on the right into reserves, leaving the weakened command squad all on its own. The veteran squad was also sent off into reserves.

Turn 1 Alaitoc
My opponent won the roll for first turn, and took it. My librarian's hood stopped the farseer from using Guide on the war-walkers, thank goodness! Both swooping hawk squads and their ICs moved up as fast as they could, but behind cover.

The war-walkers opened fire on the tac marines opposite them on the left. The apothecaries did very well, and there was only 1 casualty from 18 starcannon shots! Cover saves + Apothecaries = good! The rangers took out one more marine on the left. The guardians and falcons shot at the terminator command squad on the right, killing 1 more, leaving just the librarian and one more terminator. This was actually due to very lucky saves, since they had no support from apothecaries on that side of the table.

The falcons used their crystal targetting matrix to dissapear behind cover after shooting. I know some people find this kind of behavior "cheesy", but I am not one of them. This is a very expensive upgrade, and is equivilant in many ways to indirect fire. Besides, I think that any valid option in a codex is a valid option. If some combination turns out to be hard to deal with, then great, I like a challenge!

Turn 1 Marines
I brought the predator out to confront the hawks on the left, the land speeder raced forward to get in range to shoot at the war walkers, and my librarian moved back behind area terrain towards the main force on the left.

My shooting was mainly at the war walkers and hawks on the left. I stunned all the war walkers, with one imobilized and 2 weapons destroyed. I think the war walkers only shot only once more during the rest of the game, as I kept focusing lascannon fire at them. The plasma guns were much more effective than usual due to infiltrate, as I was actually able to set up close enough to have them in range. The predator also took out 3 swooping hawks on the left, and the librarian took out 2 more with FoA from across the table, leaving just the exarch and the farseer.

Turn 2 Alaitoc
The remaining hawks advanced. Due to the librarian's retreat, Baharroth fleeted ahead of his squad to try and get into assault range.

Lots of fire into the tac marines only downed 2 marines due to the apothecaries. The land speeder was stunned and shaken by Falcon-fire.

The farseer destroyed the predator in close combat with his singing spear. The hawk exarch on the left assaulted a tac marine squad, killing only one due to lousy rolls on his part. I couldn't use an apothecary to save him, since it was a power weapon. No strikes back due to no models in base to base. The squad failed their morale check and fell back, and the exarch consolidated into the Terminators. Baharroth assualted my librarian, and missed with all but one attack! Even sustained assualt did him no good, as he missed that one, too. My librarian then killed him outright with his force weapon. Unfortunatley, he rolled snake-eyes for his psychic test, so he wounded himself as well, his only wound of the game.

Turn 2 Marines
1 tac squad and the veteran squad come in from reserves. The veterans came on on the left to shoot and assualt the farseer, killing him. The tac squad came on around the middle, mainly to give the librarian the benefit of an apothecary.

My librarian and 1 remaining terminator moved towards the main force on the left. The terminator shot and killed 2 of the hawks that were still advancing.

The rest of my force shot at the War Walkers, stunning and damaging them enough to prevent them from shooting.

The terminator squad on the right killed the swooping hawk exarch in close combat, and moved forward with their massacre move.

Turn 3 Alaitoc
By this turn, my opponent had figured out how to make me waste my Apothecaries. He would shoot at my marines until I had used all the apothecaries, and then switch to shooting at the Terminators. If I tried to save an apothecary for later, he would shoot at the stunned land speeder some more instead with those last shots, making me waste it. He was also focusing his str 8 fire on the Terminators, too, as weapons with double the strength of the model's toughness cannot be saved by the Apothecaries. So using the apothecaries to shield my Terminators did not work out nearly as well as I had hoped. I lost all the remaining Terminators in this turn, the last one in the command squad and the last ones in the squad on the left.

He moved the hawks on the right into the cover near the objective. The Falcons continued to move up out of cover, shoot, and then hide again.

Turn 3 Marines
My last unit of marines came in from reserves on the right and advanced into rapid-fire range, and killed all the remaining hawks except the exarch. The librarian used Fear of the Darkness to make him run away, with no chance of rallying due to under 50% strength. He fled into difficult terrain anyway, failed his dangerous terrain check for jump infantry, failed his save, and went splat! The bad rolls for the hawks this game were non-stop.

I shot at the war-walkers some more, destroying one in an explosion, and stunning the other two. At this point, I was very concerned about my mobility. If I came out of cover, I could not use the Apothecaries to save vs the starcannons. Apothecaries can let you "ignore a failed save of any kind", so I needed at least a cover save in order to use them. I needed to move up to claim some more objectives, and to pursue the pop up Falcons, but I just couldn't break cover.

Turn 4 Alaitoc
More shooting at marines, mostly my veteran squad. 2 casualties from a lot of fire. Apothecaries really did their job well. The land speeder was imobilized, but since it had been stunned last turn, it hadn't moved, and thus didn't crash.

Turn 4 Marines
Finally destroyed the war-walkers with las-cannon and plasma gun fire. My imobilized land speeder finally got to shoot a second time, killing two guardians. The librarian used Fury of the Ancients to kill 2 more, but no pinning.

Turn 5 Alaitoc
Rangers and Falcons whittled down my marines by another 3 models, this time on the right hand side, where there were only 2 Apothecaries. By concentrating his fire on one group of Apothecaries, the group of 3 Apothecaries on the other side of the table were wasted.

Turn 5 Marines
With no way to get to his falcons, the rangers untouched and very well dug in to heavy cover, and many of my own units gone or below half strength, I saw that I had no hope of winning this game. They out-ranged me, and I simply could not advance, as I would be eaten alive by the starcannons. So I resigned on this turn.

Lessons Learned

I enjoyed the game, and the unusual list certainly played differently. I would use these traits again, and I have learned some important lessons for doing so effectively.

Apothecaries do not make an entirely effective shield for Terminators.
By making me use them all before shooting at the Terminators, or using str 8 weapons, or close combat power weapons, he didn't let me use an Apothecary to save a Terminator all game. I am not planning on taking Terminators again with this army.
Keep the Apothecaries in one clump.
Otherwise your opponent can just concentrate their fire, and some Apothecaries will not be useful every turn. To solve this, I am going to take only 4 squads with Apothecaries next time, and keep them together. By having less of them in total, I can afford to have them concentrated in one static fire base, as I will have more points to spend on units to fulfill other roles.
Apothecaries reduce mobility.
If you pay the huge points cost for them, you are going to have to use them. And to use them, you need to stay in cover. Relying on terminators makes this worse, as they are also slow, and need to stick near the Apothecary clump. I plan on deploying the apothecary squads more aggressively forward, but still claiming objectives, to reduce the need for them to move. I also plan on taking more fast-moving units to make up for this static fire base. Perhaps more land speeders, or some bikes. I'll leave at least one speeder in reserves, to deal with pop-up falcons and other indirect fire artillery.

I'll let you know how it goes next time!

**Spooky**

very interesting. i'm building a apoc/termy list myself for the 'ignore failed invul save', but in drop pods rather than infiltrate.

the things i was worried about was having to stick together in the clump, (or 'the network of gay' as its known here

) which limits the army hugely, need to get the pods in on time, need to stick together, need to get a save to ignore the failing of...

i didn't see the problem your opponent took advantage of by making you waste the usage of apocs. thats an issue i cant do anything about (apart from not having any vehicles so there's no other things for them to shoot if i save up the apocs)

**Gazzor**

Nice report.

No saves of any kind allowed for failed dangerous terrain checks, btw.

Gazzor

**Boss Salvage**

Thanks for the report, nice quick read with interesting armies. About the Eldar army particularly, does that opponent usually field Baharroth and two hawk units? If I played Eldar I've always wanted to do a hawk-heavy army lead by 'roth, but I always figured I'd just be in if for the modeling/painting and not ever win games. Now that I see someone doing something similar, do you have any idea how your opponent does in their other games? I'm getting a little excited that hawks might be workable (without web of skulls exarchs too! :S ), and I never gave Alaitoc a thought as a base for all my hawks ...

Thanks again.

- Boss Salvage

**codepoet**

Yes, he usually fields 2 units of swooping hawks, and Baharroth, if his opponent is OK with the special character. He does very well with this army at our local store, and is at the #2 position on the store ladder.

I have fought against this army with my Tyranids as well. Those battles are always close, and I think we are at 2 wins apiece with this match up. He basically uses both hawk units as counter-charge. He keeps them well back, behind cover, and will charge any of my units that strayed too close, or have charged his units. The sustained assault on the hawk exarch is extremely variable, sometimes inflicting horrific casualties, and sometimes none. Once, he wiped out a whole squad of 8 genestealers in one charge. The genestealers wiped out the squad of hawks, too, since they were also init 6, the same as the exarch.

It works well in combination with Alaitoc, as the big weakness of Alaitoc is hand to hand, which the hawks excell at. The weakness of hawks is high toughness opponents, since they only have S3. The Ranger/Pathfinder sniper rifles are awesome vs high toughness. I have to keep all my Tyranid monsterous creatures in cover the whole game.

If I were doing hawks, I would definitely use the exarch with the web of skulls. Sustained assault is just devastating on a init 6 hidden squad member. The extra attack you get with web of skulls certainly improves him a lot, too, since sustained assault can make it a lot more than just one. I would consider taking a large squad size, too, simply as ablative wounds for the exarch. Every game that I have done well against the hawks was because I had whittled the squad down with lots of fire before engaging them in hand to hand.

The only thing that is annoying is that since the exarch has a Sv of 3+, he can't fleet, which slows down the whole squad. In my mind, that's a good reason to take Baharroth instead of an exarch, as he can still fleet, so the whole squad can. Being an IC, he can be picked out in close combat, though, so his survivability will suffer.

**CaptKaruthors**

I believe the unit can still fleet if the exarch is in the squad. I'd check on that again, since the same thing happens with the Banshees....she also has a 3+. But I think there is lingo in there stating the unit can still fleet. Capt K

**Morticon**

Capt K- yupyup- exarchs can still fleet even with the 3+

**codepoet**

Thanks for the information about the hawk exarch still being able to fleet. After your posts I dug around on some forums and found out that it was only a later printing of the eldar codex that clarified that the exarch can fleet if the base squad has a 4+ or worse save, regardless of the save of the exarch.

My opponent will be very happy to hear that.